Walking beans, a decades-old task, stirs new interest

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A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans'?? or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans' or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans' or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans' or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans' or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

A crew of teenagers work, walking Aaron Lehman's soybean fields Tuesday July 15, 2014, near Polk City, Iowa. The threat of herbicide resistant weeds, such as Palmer amaranth, getting a toehold in Iowa has sparked a lot of discussion about whether Iowa could return to a time?? more than two decades ago -- when most farmers used Iowa high school students to 'walk beans' or hand weed Iowa'??s soybean crops. Rodney White/The Register

Sarah Kamp, 13, says her parents wanted her to experience the long-lost tradition of walking beans — what many Iowans might remember as a back-breaking, mosquito-slapping slog through weed-infested fields under a sweltering summer sun.

Farmer Aaron Lehman hears that often from parents or second-hand from their children.

"Don't all parents want their kids to sweat a little bit — and earn some money?" said Lehman, happy to put to work nearly two dozen students, ranging in age from 10 to 17, who pull weeds from about 70 acres of organic soybeans near Polk City.

Today, it's primarily organic farmers like Lehman who hand-weed, along with cultivating, rotary hoeing and other practices, to control weeds. But with herbicide-resistant weeds getting a toehold in the state, Iowans are debating whether the tradition of "walking beans" — hand-weeding acre after acre of soybeans — could be revived.

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Organically grown crops have led to more bean walking in Iowa.
Rodney White/The Register

Some farmers in Southern states like Georgia and Arkansas have resorted to pulling and hoeing by hand to battle weeds like Palmer amaranth, which can be resistant to several herbicides, including widely used glyphosate.

Palmer amaranth is an aggressive, fast-growing weed that can carry a million seeds, grow up to 7 feet tall and dramatically reduce yields.

Even a moderate infestation can rob farmers of about two-thirds of their corn and soybean yields, experts say.

Iowa has about 10 million acres of soybeans — and 13 million acres of corn — planted this year.

The weed has been discovered in five Iowa counties on the state's border, and a farmer in Lee County has found Palmer amaranth that is resistant to glyphosate, said Robert Hartzler, an Iowa State University weed scientist.

Hartzler said he doesn't believe hand-weeding is feasible for conventional farmers, given the high cost and limited availability of labor, along with declining profitability.

"The economics don't work" for conventional farmers, Hartzler said. "I couldn't tell you how many hours it would take" to hand-weed a field, he said.

Organic farmers can pay up to $200 an acre for hand-weeding, but they typically get double or more than conventional prices for chemical-free corn and soybeans. And they escape the expense of genetically modified seed and herbicides.

Paying $100 an acre for weeding works when farmers get $30 a bushel for soybeans, organic farmers say.

"If you're organic, you can't farm thousands of acres. But you can farm 300 acres and make a good living," said Paul Mugge, a northwest Iowa organic farmer in O'Brien County. He grows about 100 acres of organic beans each year.

Mugge pays high school students based on the grade they'll be going into that fall. For example, students who will be seniors this year get $12 an hour, and freshmen, $9.

A part-time physics and calculus teacher, Mugge jokes that the increasing pay encourages students to graduate. "I think I pay pretty well, but it's hard work, and I want them to come back," he said.

Farmers say walking beans sometimes takes a back seat to sports, band and other summertime commitments.

"The romanticism of walking beans ends after about 15 minutes. Then it's work," said Lehman.

Mugge said the South O'Brien school district softball team's success means he needs to give students flexibility. The team practiced in the morning. "They can walk when they want to," he said, adding that students often have other jobs they work around as well.

Mugge and others said they've also hired Hispanic crews that crisscross the state, walking beans and detasseling seed corn. "Those folks work so hard. They do a good job," Mugge said.

Detasseling is another summertime job that's fast becoming a memory in Iowa.

Hartzler, the ISU professor, said many seed growers use machines to pull or cut tassels. Most crews now just walk the fields to get the tassels the machines missed.

Larry Travino of Larry Travino Farm Services said he has about four crews of about 16 workers walking beans and detasseling seed corn in Iowa over a month or two in the summer.

Travino said the Worthington, Minn., company uses mostly area workers for the summertime crews. Farmers could pay $50 to $200 an acre for hand-weeding, depending on how many workers are needed.

"If fields are really weedy, we'll bring in more people," he said. "We don't want anyone to get burned out."

Wet conditions can make it difficult for organic farmers to cultivate and rotary hoe, mechanical methods used to help kill weeds. Farmers also add other crops such as alfalfa or hay to a corn-soybean rotation to disrupt weeds and add nutrients back to the soil.

Lehman, who grows both organic and conventional crops near Polk City, said he was lucky to find a narrow window in which to tackle the weeds this year, so the organic soybean fields were "nice and clean" as students went to work this week.

Kamp, the 13-year-old working for Lehman, planned to use the money for back-to-school clothes and maybe a trip to Adventureland amusement park.

Nearby bean walker Dilynn Adams, 10, was working for a new iPod — and enjoying the chance to escape an annoying 6-year-old brother. "It's hard," she said, walking with her sister, Taylor Adams, 12.

Kamp said it was nice to get a taste of farming. "They talk about this being the breadbasket of the nation, and that farming is a lot of work, but most kids never get to experience it," she said.

Lehman said mechanization has improved farming, but the use of big tractors, combines and sprayers has removed many Iowans from its challenges.

"You lose a lot of appreciation for the work it takes to grow a crop. You don't see that from the side of the road," he said.

At a glance

Walking beans — the hand-weeding of acres of soybeans — is returning to Iowa as farmers look for ways to combat herbicide-resistant weeds.

• Iowa ranks first in the nation for soybean and corn production, with about 10 million acres of soybeans and 13 million acres of corn planted every year.

• Similar to corn detasseling, most bean walkers are from 10 to 17 years old.

• Organic farmers are the primary users of hand-weeding and can pay up to $200 an acre for the task.